10 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



wisdom, not to repress witli such a sudden grip that something will give 

 way in the body scholastic, or that too much license allows the college to 

 Regenerate into professional gamesters, politicians, and tricksters. And 

 r got here is where the boating inflammation has attacked the college. It i 3 

 not a constitutional affection, but one that is purely local, and a condition 

 like that of boils brought about by the cold water treatment of disease, a 

 sure sign of vigor and vitality in the body as a whole, which has the 

 power to develop a "crisis," and thus strengthen and fortify against un- 

 usual demands and attacks of disease. 1 



The inter-collegiate Eegatta seems ro develop among not only the stu- 

 dents, but the alumni also, a feeling of ownership in the college, which in 

 an indirect way is of great service to any college, for what college is there 

 which does not live in its alumni ? 



And whatever may be the feeling of any Professor, that a few of the 

 boating men with poor preparations for college, and minds not moving 

 rapidly, have suffered because of their-preparations for the Eegatta, still 

 every officer of our college will not fail to admire the zeal and steadiness, 

 and high moral conduct with which every member of our crews prepared 

 tor and went through their ordeal at Springfield; and personally I cannot 

 but feel that as boating is conducted' with us at the present, the aquatic 

 exercise is an advantage to the college body as a- whole, and in the' general 

 average to the students engaging in it. And yet it is simply honest for me 

 to state in conclusion, that some of my associated Professors hold decided- 

 ly different opinions on some of the matters mentioned here. 



Prof. Edavard Hitchcock. 



THE LONG ISLAND FIRES. 



THE fires on Long Island have .not been as destructive 

 to game as was at first represented. Very little, if any, 

 has been destroyed, although .quite a large area, as much as 

 25,000 acres, have been swept over by the flames. The 

 game existed but sparsely in the peculiar locality, the fire 

 not having reached the South country, excepting in a few 

 portions,- and these were between Patchogue and Lakeland, 

 exactly where in former times there had been fires, a. ground 

 now covered by scrubby oaks and stunted pines. Little or 

 no game has ever existed to our knowledge -within the limits 

 of the late fire. Had it, however, extended across the Long 

 Island Railroad, or east or south in the open fields border- 

 ing, on which large timber and good feeding ground is 

 found, an irreparable damage might have been done to the 

 game, such as quail and woodcock, which abound there in 

 greater quantity to-daj'- than for many years before. If it 

 ia possible that any good can come out of a calamity of this 

 nature, if the fields and woods have suffered, the fisherman 

 can derive some comfort from the fact that it is quite pos- 

 sible that the small streams running through the burnt dis- 

 trict will even be benefitted by the fire. It will start into 

 active growth again the scrub trees on the banks of the 

 streams, and as it may take years before the hand of man 

 can cut them, they will shade the springs, which will be of 

 benefit for the fish. The fire seems to have extended to 

 West Pond (Woodhull's), on the west side, but did not harm 

 Canaan Pond to any great extent, As to larger game, there 

 are no deer to be found in the immediate 1 oca lily of the 

 fire. 



These frequent fires are becoming dangerous as well as 

 simply destructive. Is there no way to prevent them ? 

 Shall we drive off the locomotive, or crush out the charcoal 

 burning industry, both of which are much blamed as the 

 origin of these fires ? Is there no way of checking by rea- 

 sonable restrictions the carelessness of the brush burners, 

 permitting them to burn only in the winter, or when the 

 verdure is green and flowing with juice ? Shall we permit 

 the engineers of trains, even of express trains, to pass heed- 

 lessly by a fire just caught, and licking up the parched grass 

 and making its way to brush and thickets which are dry as 

 tinder ? What shall be done to cure the indifference of the 

 farmer to the occasion of the thin blue spire of smoke 

 which he sees curling up from his neighbor's territory on a 

 day so hot that wood will almost ignite spontaneously in 

 the sun's torrid rays ? Ah ! Messrs. Farmers, an ounce of 

 prevention is worth a pound of cure, and sometimes a little 

 more attention to the pecuniary interests of your neighbor, and 

 fco his morals, will save yourselves a "heap" of trouble. 

 We have seen many conflagrations which were permitted to 

 gain an uncontrollable headway because the gradually ris- 

 ing flames' did not seem to threaten your own crops and 

 fences. 



-fro*- 



TO THE LADIES. 



♦ 



We humbly invite the co-operation of the ladies. What 

 success is complete without their countenance and sympathy ? 

 We shall print articles with special reference to their perus- 

 al and edification. Every word in this paper will be as 

 chaste as Diana herself. She was the patroness of the chase 

 and of forest sports, and a divinity whose beck no cavalier 

 Or rough ride]' would be loth to follow. Why should not 

 our ladies of the present day emulate the spirit and action 

 of their female ancestors, not in riding, spurred and booted, 

 astride the saddle, man-fashion, but in cultivating the blush 

 of rosy health upon their cheeks by open-air exercises in 

 which men can participate? We cordially invite their con- 

 tributions upon all topics which come within the general 



scope of our publication. 



-0*^- 



TO ADVERTISERS. 



Dealers in all kinds of supplies likely to- be required by 

 sportsmen will perceive upon critically examining our paper 

 that it must at once become a valuable advertising medium. 



The ramifications of a sportsman's requirements are so 

 numerous and divergent, that they reach to many branches 

 of trade. We shall aim to put the purchaser in direct com- 

 munication with the seller, by informing where any required 

 goods can be bought. Sportsmen are. often obliged to hunt 

 the city for some essential article, because it is not adver- 

 tised. A journal like this which deals in specialties, is far 

 more useful to the class of advertisers whose patronage it 

 seeks, than one which advertises miscellaneous business. 



A Plea for the Brown Bear.— We enter a plea for 

 the unfortunate trick bear which is daily paraded through 

 the streets of New York and Brooklyn, and made to go 

 through his exercises under the sweltering sun. Bears who 

 have the freedom of the forest can indulge in siestas under 

 the shade of, the laurels and underbrush, but this poor 

 beast must endure the full force and glare of the midday 

 heat, half sick with the process of shedding his hair, and 

 clad in a thick shaggy overcoat which Nature compels him 

 to wear in the dog days. The few bystanders who stand in 

 the shade and watch his evolutions with a painful interest 

 that is plainly visible on their faces, perspire freely in their 

 linen coats, while the man who bosses the bear fairly glows 

 with the heat and reeks with sweat, which he sops with his 

 handkerchief. The bear is docile, obedient, cowed, and 

 and obeys each well-learned signal of his master, but should 

 he demur at any time a savage jerk at the iron ring which 

 passes through his nose, or a threatened blow from the 

 ever-impending club, will at once discourage any attempt 

 to resist. 



More than once the woes of this miserable bear have ap- 

 pealed to the sympathies of the public, and ought to be re- 

 garded. To be sure, both man and bear must subsist ; if 

 they have Chosen this method of earning a livelihood let 

 the partner of the concern having the most intellect set 

 apart proper hours and seasons. If he does not, we advise 

 the bear to "strike" and break the contract. Mr. Bergh, 

 please notify your deputies. 



Up ra a Balloon. — The daily Graphic publishers are 

 preparing their big balloon, and we wish to assist in giving 

 it a good "send-off." Although our paper bears the dis- 

 tinctive name of Forest and Stream, we claim to devote 

 some attention to the air and owa/i, — and though this big- 

 balloon is neither the one nor the other, but rather some- 

 thing between the two, so to speak (that is, the projectors say 

 it will be next 25th instant), it nevertheless comes within 

 our ken and notice. Briefly, we have great hope of the 

 enterprise. The balloon is sure to go up, and when that 

 goes "all is gone save hope." Winging its way heaven- 

 ward, mounting to the zenith, vanishing at last into thin 

 air, gone perhaps forever, will not the enterprise, with its 

 projector and voyager, have fully established itself as an 

 airy naught? (See aeronaut.) Under its competent Profes- 

 sor, who is both Wise and weather-wise, can anything but 

 success be expect ed ? We trust it will strike that eastern 

 current,- and, guided by the same propitious star which led 

 the "wise men of the East" lang syne, be wafted to its des- 

 tination. We ought to do at least as much for the balloon 

 as tin.' war has done for us — give it "inflated currency." . 

 *+•+>- , 



We are pleased to give the fullest notice — and it is well 

 merited— -of still other prizes offered to yachts, &c, by Com- 

 modore James Gordon Bennett, but would particularly call 

 attention to the fact that, Mr. Bennett provides four purses, 

 one of $1,000 open to all schooners of any recognized 

 yacht club, two of $500 open to schooners and sloops, and one 

 of $1000 open to pilot boats, working schooners and smacks. 



Tl i e colossal wealth of our bankers, merchants, and rail- 

 roadmen, is the constant theme among all classes. Why 

 can't we induce more Bennetts, Lord Hardys and Jeromes 

 to give prices? Let a prominent man in each seaport and in- 

 land town of note, give a purse for yachting, boating, and 

 athletic pastimes, and he would receive more thanks from 

 the higher class of sportsmen who are really beginning 

 to feel that there is some good to be done in recreative 

 amusements among the young men of America, than if he 

 left thousands to be squandered by his heirs. 



V An Adirondack Fish Preserve. — We understand that a 

 party of gentlemen are about leasing Preston Pond, Essex 

 count}-, in the Adirondack?, for the private use of a club. 

 These ponds form the sources of Cold River, a tributary of the 

 Backet, and are filled with the finest quality of trout, For the 

 past fifteen years they have been poached during winter 

 and spring, and as many as fifteen barrels of trout have been 

 taken out of them each year. We are glad that there is a 

 probability of such valuable waters as these being rescued 

 from the snares of the wanton and unscrupulous spoiler. 

 We have a friend's authority for saying that some anglers 

 (?) one day brought in from these ponds a tin lunch box 

 which contained' eighty-two trout, Poor little fingerlfngs! 

 Noble line of sportsmen. 



crowded also. Play began at four, and kept on with a few 

 intermissions only till seven A. M. The band played 

 some very choice airs, and the spectators stayed to the 

 end, and were highly pleased. Mr. A. Munetta's side won 

 by three goals to one." 



-*«*•- 



An Old Relic Gone. — The Lovdoa Tunes mentions that 

 the historical York House, Twickenham, is about passing 

 under the auctioneer's hammer. Here dwelt Clarendon du- 

 ring the zenith of his popularity. It was his literary Villa, 

 and it is probable that during his residence there, Ben 

 Johnson, Edmund Walter, Sir Kenehn Digby and Isaac 

 Walton were the frequenters of York House. 

 . «*.»^~ 



Farmer, Little & Co., type founders, have fitrnished 



the elegant typographical dress for this paper. 

 «*«> 



Polo seems to have become now a regular game in Eng- 

 land, though rather of an aristocratic character, and confin- 

 ed to cavalry officers, with a sprinkling of hunting men. A 

 London paper says ; 



"There has been some regular play at Lillie Bridge 

 during the week, but on Friday the public were treated 

 to sonic of the most fast and exciting games that have ever 

 been played there. The afternoon was devoted to a chari- 

 table purpose. 



attendance of the public on such short notice proved that 

 they were actuated by a sense of good as well as by a love 

 of manly sport. 



The turf, cousidering the late broiling weather, was in 

 capital order, and the ground was gaily decorated with 

 minting on every side." There could not have been less 

 than 2,000 spectators present, and the carriage ground was 



FISH CULTURE. 



AN expression of astonishment is often heard from her- 

 sons who have not kept posted in the progress of fish 

 culture in America, at what seems to them a strange, new 

 business, that lias, like the genii of Arabian Nights, spruiv 

 suddenly from almost nothing into vast proportions, and 

 they often, while reading an account of the stocking of 

 some lake or stream, or perhaps the starting or success of 

 some private trout farm, give vent to their astonishment in 

 the exclamation, " What a business that has got to lie !" 



They do not see the processes by which the results pre- 

 sented in a newspaper paragraph are arrived at ; they can- 

 not see the patient watching, the anxiety, with its accom- 

 panying periods of hope and despair, that have made the 

 time seem long to the few earnest men who embarked in 

 the new business before its success was assured, and gained 

 the knowledge that now seems so simple, by hard work and 

 careful experiment, often accompanied by the sneers of the 

 unbelieving. 



If, while Seth Green was at Holyoke for the first time 

 trying to hatch the eggs of the shad, which floated, con- 

 trary to all his experience with fish eggs, and it was doubt- 

 ful if he would succeed that season, the unbelieving had 

 confined themselves to sneers, he would have felt grateful, 

 but when to these weapons they added stones, and upset 

 his boxes, it plainly showed that the opposition of the ignor- 

 cnt fisherman was stronger than he had supposed. 



Had these things happened a hundred years before, he 

 would have been put to death as a wizzard. Yet these 

 same men who persecuted him in his first attempts, no 

 sooner found out that he had succeeded, and that the cul- 

 ture of shad was destined to become a fixed institution on 

 the Connecticut River, than they came whining around for 

 a job, and he showed a christian forgiveness by employing 

 them. 



The writer found something of the same spirit in the 

 spring of 1866, while trying for his own amusement to 

 hatch vellow-perch and alewives, {alma tyrarrm/s) or as they 

 are called on the Hudson River, herring, between Albany 

 and Castleton, and only five miles from where he was this 

 vear employed by Mr. Green to hatch shad. The natives 

 did not use stones, but after several times emptying an old 

 leaky boat in which were placed the perch spawn hano-ing- 

 in long lace-like strings oyer sticks they broke it to pieces 

 and carried off the shoe boxes in which the herring eo-^s 

 were dewed to twia-s and plants. 



These petty annoyances, however, were comparatively 

 easy to bear, doming as they did from an ignorant class of 

 men who probably feared damage to their business; but 

 -were as nothing compared to those who under the guise of 

 friendship, took' care to throw cold water upon everything 

 connected with the new project. 



These things are fresh in the memory of all the pioneers 

 in fish culture, who. having borne the heat and burden of 

 the dav, are now rejoicing at the popularitv which their 

 once derided schemes for increasing the food fishes are afc 

 tain fug. 



That fish culture, althoug-h of such surprising progress to 

 some, is only on the threshold of its usefulness, is admitted 

 by all who are at all familiar it. The dav will come, and that 

 shortlv, when the great State of New York, instead of one 

 hatching; house to supply its whole, area with salmon trout 

 and whitcfish. will maintain one on every lake. 



They already have one at Cooperstown. on Otsego lake, 

 which is doiue- a grand work in stocking its waters with the 

 variety of whitefish which they persistently miscall Otsego- 

 bass. 



But we can afford to pass the hair-splitting about names 

 to those whose interest in such things is confined to nom- 

 enclature, and shake hands with the public-spirited men 

 who have built the hatchine* house and employed competent 

 men to save a valuable fish from extermination. They have 

 set an example that should be followed bv the dwellers near 

 the other inland lakes with which the State is so bountifully 

 supplied. 



As the Hudson River has furnished, those living near it 

 with tons of cheap and wholesome food, so can each of 

 these beautiful lakes, which are now only so much waste 

 space taken from n«moulture, be made to yield a larger re- 

 turn, acre for acre, than the best crazing amis in the State. 



That some few things have been done that will not be ap- 

 proved of in another decade is not to«foe wondered at ; for 

 instance, in the opinion of the writer, too much value is 

 placed on a fish (in some quarters), for his pme qualities ; 

 hence the popularity of the fresh water black-bass. Waters 

 have been stocked with pickerel and muskelonge, simply 

 because they afford sport, This ranges a few men against 

 State appropriations for fish culture, because sport is often 

 considered in place of cheap food. At the State hatching 

 house there is little demand for whitefish because they do 

 not take the hook, and therefore this most valuable fish is 

 not disseminated in as great quantities as the salmon trout ; 

 but if the State would decide for itself which fish to stock 

 certain waters with, and do it, instead of waiting for per- 

 sons who are public-spirited enough to come and take them 

 at their own expense, and who will only take such fish as 

 may seem acceptable to their crude ideas, it would he far 

 better. 



It is not to be expected that we will all agree on many 



